ACTFL Releases remaining AAPPL topics for 2018

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Lisa Campo(703) 894-2900 x119

Below are the content topics for the 2018 assessment for Arabic, Chinese-Mandarin, English, French, German, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Instructors whose students will be taking AAPPL in one of these languages in the spring of 2018 may wish to create tasks based on these topics as part of their students’ preparation.

AAPPL is a performance assessment designed for educational settings. Among the expectations for assessment of language performance (in contrast to assessment of proficiency) is facilitating practice of the general topics that make up the assessment. As such, ACTFL has provided the AAPPL 2018 topics so that learners may have the opportunity to practice “tasks within familiar contexts” (ACTFL Performance Descriptors for Language Learners, 2012, p. 5). Teachers may use these topics to create classroom and homework-based opportunities for students to perform across all modes of communication before participating in the AAAPPL assessment.

As an assessment of Standards-based language learning across the three modes of communication as defined by the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages, AAPPL assesses Interpersonal Listening/Speaking, Presentational Writing, Interpretive Reading, and Interpretive Listening.

Please note that a performance-based approach does not preclude a proficiency-based one. As the ACTFL Performance Descriptors for Language Learners state, “the ratings that a language learner receives on a variety of performance assessments provide evidence of how the learner will be rated on an assessment of proficiency” (p. 4). Proficiency and Performance assessments are both vital paths to measuring gains in learning and focusing approaches to classroom instruction. For more information on performance and proficiency, refer to page 4 on the ACTFL Performance Descriptors for Language Learners.

ACTFL previously released content topics for four new AAPPL languages: Hindi, Italian, Japanese, and Thai. As of January 2018, the AAPPL will be available in 13 languages.

About ACTFL:
The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) is the national association for language education professionals from all levels of instruction and representing all languages. With more than 12,000 active members, ACTFL provides innovative professional development opportunities, acclaimed training and certification programs, and widely cited books, publications, scholarly journals, research studies and language education resources, including Foreign Language Annals and The Language Educator magazine. As part of its mission and vision, the organization provides guidance to the profession and to the general public regarding issues, policies, and best practices related to the teaching and learning of languages and cultures. ACTFL is a leading national voice among language educators and administrators and is guided by a responsibility to set standards and expectations that will result in high quality language programs.